Still My Best Friend
by Song Of A Free Heart
Summary: A collection of Mereta stories for my high school/college/domestic AU. Will feature appearances from Hiccstrid and Jackunzel. (Not in chronological order) (U1214)
1. Legolas Complex

**Huge thanks** **to** **Iggyfing** **on tumblr** **, who suggested the idea of Legolas, and for headcanoning with me. XD I hope you like!**

 _Legolas Complex_

In retrospect, Eret probably should have realized that watching all three Lord of the Rings movies in as many days (the extended versions, mind you) hadn't been a good idea. 

Not when Merida seemed to think that anything archery related in a movie was a personal challenge.(He was not looking forward to the next Avengers movie.) 

But she was especially bad when it came to Legolas. She seemed to think everything the elf did was a challenge that bordered on an insult. And no matter how many times Eret tried to explain the concept of stunt men, harnesses, and CGI, Merida remained convinced that anything Legolas did, she could do better. 

He wished that he had remembered that _before_ they watched the movies. But, for some reason, he never realized something might make Merida act stupid until after it happened.

He had just been getting ready to head over to her house to watch "Return of the King" when his phone rang. With her ringtone. That was when he got the first suspicion that something was wrong. Though he tried to brush it off. She probably just wanted him to pick something up from the store, he told himself, as he accepted the call. 

"Hey."

She didn't respond right away. And when she did, she wasn't her usual, energetic self.

"Uh…help," she said, her voice tight with what he recognized as pain. He had heard her like this too many times to count. "I broke somethin'."

Eret stopped in the middle of the living room. "Broke what?"

"Shoulder?" she said, unsure. "I think I've got a concussion, too."

Somehow, the casual way she said it was that much worse.

"I'm on my way."

"I'm at Jack's," she said.

That was never good. Nothing good ever happened when she was at Jack's, because it usually meant she was breaking one of her parents' "house-specific" rules. Like "no shooting in the house". Jack didn't seem to mind arrow holes in his walls. And he barely had anymore good  
sense than Merida. He didn't seem to understand that just because he was an extreme snowboarder, he was a professional, and had training. Merida did not.

"I'm coming," he repeated, his voice dark to his own ears. He was gonna kill Jack. He said it almost everytime this happened. But this time, he was dangerously close to meaning it.

"I'm in the basement," she said.

"Stay awake," he commanded, before hanging up.

Thankfully, it was less than a 10 minute drive to Jack's place (just a block or so up from Merida's). The front door was unlocked. 

The basement was completely finished, so it was technically just the downstairs. The stairs went straight downward, off from the kitchen, so he saw her as soon as he turned down them.

She was on one of the stairs, about three quarters of the way down. Her bow was a few steps down… and a dark blue saucer sled on the floor below the stairs. He almost didn't want to know. If she weren't obviously injured, it would have been funny simply because it was so  
absurd.

Merida looked over slowly, clutching at her right shoulder. Her cringe told him just that small movement hurt.

"That looked a lot easier on TV," she said. The pain was already making her loopy, he realized. Her aqua gaze was out of focus.

He crouched down on the step above her, wishing he didn't have to ask. Because he had already started to guess.

"What looked easy?"

"That thing Legolas did, sliding down the stairs on that shield," she said.

They were never watching Lord of the Rings again. Ever. This was just too ridiculous.

Eret glared at the sled she had clearly been substituting for a shield.

"Where's Jack?"

"Probably snowboarding," she said. "He was leaving when I got here."

Eret decided he could deal with Jack later. For now…

"Come on," he sighed, shifting so he could scoop her off the floor. "Let's get you to the ER."

He picked her up so her left shoulder was against his chest, and she let go of her injured one to wrap her arm around his neck. They had done this many times before.

"I did it the first time," she said, as he started carrying her up the stairs bridal style. "Then the second time the sled hit the wall."

Eret shook his head. His mother said that Merida was just going through a regular teenage phase, thinking she was invincible, and that he had been the same three years earlier. But he was positive he had never been this bad. 

"Why didn't you stop after the first time?" 

"Because my aim was off." 

He decided not to respond to that, and instead focused on loading her into the passenger seat of his car. 

"My bow—" 

"We'll get it later." He sighed. "I swear, Mer. It's gonna be a miracle if you reach 18."


	2. What Friends Are For

**Yes, another Erida drabble. You can't stop me! This is set in the same high school/domestic AU as my drabble about Merida breaking her collar bone.**

 **The other day at work they had me serving ice cream in the deli (I'm a grocery store bagger), and this idea started. It was also a chance to let some of the Big 4 express some of my frustrations with customers… Most of what Merida says is things I've said.**

 _That's What Friends Are For_

Merida had told him she got a job working at the frozen yogurt place – but he didn't actually believe it until he saw it. The thought of Merida in customer service (and the food industry, no less), had never seemed possible to him.

When he came in, she was in the middle of ringing up a couple kids from school, so he had a chance to try and process while she was busy.

Eret tried to fight back a snicker, but didn't exactly win the fight.

Merida looked up from the register to shoot him a glare, so he knew he was in trouble. But it would just be worse if he tried to make a break for it, so he waited for her to be finished.

"I am going to hurt you," she said, as soon as the door closed behind the group of teen girls.

"What did I do?" he asked. Though his feigned innocence might had worked better if the corners of his mouth hadn't been twitching in a smile.

He shouldn't have been so amused. But the whole thing was just so strange. She just didn't have the temper for customer service. He knew his friend well enough to know that this was a disaster waiting to happen.

The uniform did not help. Her bright red curls were pulled back in a ponytail, the flyaway curls held down by a beige visor embroidered with the store's logo. The bright green polo shirt clashed horribly with her hair. And the light in the space, which was all white, chrome, and green, didn't suit her.

Neither did the sterile smell of bleach and metal.

Merida didn't answer his question, though her hand twitched as though she wanted something to throw at him. Instead, she grabbed a rag to wipe down the counter, which looked pretty clean to Eret. But what did he know?

"Astrid finally got her car," she said.

"So I heard." Astrid had been saving up for her car for almost as long as Eret had known her (which was a long time), and it had been impossible to miss the update. Her facebook posts had all been about her car for the past week.

"So she and Punz had the idea that we should go on a road trip this summer."

It was exactly the kind of plan Eret would expect from the two blondes.

"Mum said that if I'm not mature enough to save the money, I'm not mature enough for the trip."

It was exactly what Eret would expect from Elinor.

Merida, at sixteen, was the baby of their group – though he would never be caught dead calling her that out loud. Rapunzel would be eighteen in a few months, and Astrid was already seventeen. And even though they had all known each other for years, he could imagine that Elinor was a little nervous about Merida going off without parental supervision.

Breaking her collar bone while trying to prove she could do anything Legolas could do had not done much to convince her parents of her maturity. (Or Eret, for that matter. He was still wondering if he would actually be able to leave her alone when he went off to college, or if he should put it off for a couple of years to make sure she survived to her eighteenth birthday.)

"How is it so far?" he asked.

"It's my second day."

That didn't sound good. "How is it?"

Her glower was answer enough.

Eret looked around the shop, trying to decide how long Merida would last. She could be stubborn when she wanted something – and this trip was exactly the kind of thing she would chased with dogged determination. But the food industry…

"You delivery pizza," Merida snapped, apparently reading the doubt on his face.

"I wasn't gonna say anything," he said. He wouldn't dare. (Though, whether he liked his job or not, it had to be a lot better than this. At least he wasn't dealing with people most of the time. And especially not their peers.)

"You were thinking it," she said.

Well, he couldn't deny that.

"If you're not gonna buy something, then I have to work," she said.

The place was completely empty, and she had wiped down the counter and the tables while they talked, so he knew she would just be bored if he left.

He bought a small bowl of frozen yogurt, with toppings, and sat down close to the counter to keep her company.

#

Their whole group ended up eating a whole lot of frozen yogurt that winter and spring. Jack would have been there anyway, since the frozen/sweet was perfect for both him and Rapunzel. But he loved the whole situation way too much. And unlike Eret, he had no problem saying just how ridiculous it was that Merida was in customer service.

Annoying as he could be, Merida admitted that she preferred his visits to most of the other customers.

"They're insufferable!" she cried, flopping back across the foot of his bed – it was the first thing she said after entering his room unceremoniously.

Eret looked up from his homework – which he had been working on before her arrival. "Insufferable?"

"Yes!"

She had just come from work, so he figured it was safe to guess she was talking about the customers. But still… since when did she use words like "insufferable"?

"If one more person asks if the red velvet yogurt is fat free!"

"Is it?" he asked cautiously – glancing around to make sure there was nothing she could grab to throw at his face. All his pillows were behind him, thankfully.

"No! All our flavors say on the signs if they're low fat or fat free. But does anyone read the signs? Nooooo, of course not. And apparently it's a crime to yawn while I'm working."

Eret snickered.

"And they all think they're hilarious. And they're not."

She lay on her back, looking up at the ceiling, where he had never gotten around to taking down the glow-in-the-dark stars from when he was a kid. He probably never would.

"I can't keep doing this," she groaned, rubbing her face.

"It's only a couple more months," Eret reminded. It was already March, and the trip was set for the last week in June. She had already lasted four months – longer than he had expected.

She didn't respond for a minute – just kept staring at the plastic stars.

"I dunno if I'll have enough," she finally admitted. "That's the worst part: thinking I did all this for nothing!"

Eret frowned. She was only working about three days a week after school and on weekends, so he knew she wasn't making much.

Rapunzel estimated that each girl would need a thousand dollars to cover gas, food, hotel rooms, and spending, for the week and a half they would be gone. He had nearly choked when he heard the number. Merida was impulsive with money, so it was inevitable that some of her new income didn't make it into savings. But he had though she would be able to make it… if she was careful. Though he probably should have noticed that she wasn't exactly being careful

June arrived, and school let out.

He was informed by text that Merida had quit, but she was fifty dollars short of her goal.

When he arrived in her room, he found her exactly where he expected: lying on her back across her bed. Her preferred sulking pose, no matter whose bed was closest.

She lifted her head as he came in. Her absent annoyance turned to a glare as she zeroed in on the two containers he carried.

"You did not bring me frozen yogurt," she said.

"Come on," he said, coming around the bed to sit on the carpeted floor. It was a good thing Elinor wasn't home, or he never would have been allowed to bring food upstairs. He held one of the containers out to her. "It's the best way to celebrate."

"Celebrate what?" she asked. But she still rolled onto her stomach as she accepted the treat. She stabbed her plastic spoon into the yogurt.

"You're done with that job, at least."

She made a sound that might have been an agreement. But not an enthusiastic one.

Eret opened his yogurt as well, and they ate in silence for a few minutes.

"Oh, I forgot," he said. "I taped something to the bottom."

When she looked at him in confusion, Eret nodded to her container.

She frowned, but tilted her head and lifted the container to look at the bottom without tipping the contents onto the floor. When he glanced over, it took all his will power not to grin.

She pulled off the note, and set the container on her bedside table. Unfolding it, she pulled out the fifty dollar bill. On the note had had just written "have fun".

Merida turned to look at him. "Are you sure?"

"Just send me a postcard from California," he said, taking another bite.

Merida practically fell off the bed, and Eret barely had time to move his yogurt out of the way before he found himself on the receiving end of one of her bear hugs. "Thank you!"

"Hey, what are friends for?" he asked, returning the hug.

It only last a moment before Merida scrambled over to her bedside table to grab her cell phone and shoot a quick text to Rapunzel that she had the money.


	3. Reunion

**Per request – Merida and Eret's reunion after he starts college! Sorry the title is so boring…**

 **Also, because I have so many AUs, and I'm not creative enough to name them all, I've decided to pull a Marvel and start numbering them. So, this is U1214**

 _Reunion_

She kept telling herself there was no reason to be nervous. It was Eret, for heaven's sake. They had been friends since she was nine – save for those few months when he was fourteen and seemed to think he was too mature to be friends with a twelve year old girl. But he had grown out of that, and they had been best friends ever since.

But she was nervous.

Because she hadn't seen him in seven months – longer than they had ever gone without hanging out. And sure, they exchanged texts and phone calls. But seven months was a lot time.

Merida still couldn't believe her parents had agreed to the trip. Sure, she had argued that it was a chance to check out his college, where she was already pretty much decided on going. But they were letting her fly out of state. Alone. And they had even agreed that she could stay in Eret's apartment – something she had been sure they would never ok. She got no credit for that one. Though she would love to know what Eret had said to her mom to bring it about.

So she spent two fights, and a two hour layover in Chicago, alternating between nervousness about seeing Eret after so long, and excitement about seeing her best friend after so long.

Even the fifty odd texts they exchanged during the layover didn't help allay her nerves.

Finally the plane touched ground. Which was good, because she felt as though she was about to explode with all the energy coursing through her. But she still had to wait until they pulled up to the gate, came to a stop… and just when she started to feel it would never happen, the pilot announced that they were now allowed to disembark.

It took every ounce of her will power not to make a break for it. But everyone else on the plane was doing just that, so she leaned back in her seat, fidgeting endlessly, and waited for the bulk of the other passengers to get off.

When there were only a handful of people left, she stood up, grabbing her backpack from the overhead compartment.

What she wanted to do was run – with all her energy, it was almost impossible to do anything else.

But there were still other people on the plane – and she didn't feel like being scolded by the grumpy flight attendant again.

She pulled her phone from her pocket as she walked up the loading ramp, turning it on so she could check her texts. There were two from Eret. One from just after she had turned her phone off to board the plane in Chicago, and one from a few minutes ago.

It was a picture of what she guessed was the airport's security checkpoint.

He was there, and waiting.

And she still couldn't run, because the halls were too congested who seemed to be in a reverse-race to go slower than molasses. Honestly. What was wrong with people?

She wove between business people in suits, with briefcases and rolling suitcases, and families with laden down with children and carryon items. With spring break, everyone was either coming or going.

Finally – _finally!_ – she made it to the security point. When she was beyond it, she adjusted her backpack as she looked around the large, crowded space, full of people saying goodbyes, or being reunited. And the business people in their suits kept moving to get to their rental cars.

She didn't see any sign of Eret. The guy was six three, and roughly the size of a bull. He should not be hard to find.

Her phone went off, with the rintone she had set specifically for Eret's texts. (It just made life easier.) When she opened the picture message, her brow furrowed as she looked at… her own back.

Grinning, she spun around just in time to see Eret snicker as he slid his phone into his back pocket.

"Hey, Red."

Merida laughed as she ran over to him.

Unlike Rapunzel, Merida wasn't usually the hugging type. Only very special occasions warranted her hugging someone.

This, she decided, was a special occasion. She threw her arms around him in a bear his.

She would never say it out loud. Because it wasn't her style, and because his ego didn't need the encouragement…but she had missed him. Seeing his familiar grin just drove the fact home. The hug was brief, but Eret returned it with equal force before they stepped back.

"You're still alive," Eret said, looking her over.

Merida rolled her eyes. "You act like you're the only thing keeping me alive."

"You still call me when things go wrong," he reminded. As though that proved his point.

"Old habits," she said, waving it off.

Some people called their parents when things went wrong. She called Eret. It was an automatic response. It didn't matter if she missed the last bus, her car broke down, or she broke a bone. Whatever happened, Eret was usually answering the phone before she fully registered that she was calling him.

There wasn't much point now. It was impossible for him to pick her up, or drive her to the emergency room, when he lived a couple thousand miles away.

But she still called him.

She decided to ignore the fact that his expression was dangerously close to a smirk, and he realized that he had won the disagreement.

Instead, she gave him a once over, searching for ways that he had changed in the past seven months.

Something about his face was older, though she couldn't put her finger on exactly what the change was. (No one had ever accused her of attention to detail.)

He wasn't taller, she was pleased to see. The top of her head barely reached his shoulder, and was already thought that was unfair. His shoulder were definitely broader, though. She would probably never, ever win another wrestling match against him. Which meant she could never commandeer control of the TV remote again. Unless he let her. Darn it.

And he had even more muscle mass. Which he seemed to have no problem showing off, if his fitted, dark grey tshirt was any indication.

But his dark hair was slicked back – the same way he had styled it since he first discovered hair gel. (That had been during those few months when he was fourteen, and decided to take himself way too seriously. Merida hadn't understood why he was suddenly acting like a stupid teenager. By the time they had been friends again, it had been too late for her to save him from his gel habit.)

His smile was the same, too.

 _Still Eret,_ she decided.

"Do you have any bags?" he asked.

"Nah." She shook her head. Everything she had brought was stuffed into her backpack. "Let's get outta here."

 **I'm thinking about making this a two part.**


	4. Separation

**I've had the rough draft of this for a few weeks, but the prompt kind of gave it purpose, if that makes sense. The original version meandered a little, since I couldn't exactly figure out where it was going. This takes place in the same universe as my "Still My Best Friend" AU.**

In high school, when one of Eret's teachers had explained Pavlov's experiments, he had been the first one to get it. (Which had been kind of nice, since he usually wasn't the first person to get anything.) Mostly because it had been an explanation as to why, every time he heard Joan Jett's "Bad Reputation", he reached for his phone. Even if he knew the song wasn't coming from his phone, he still went to answer it, and started calculating the fastest way to wherever Merida was.

She was the only one of his contacts to get a personalized ringtone. He knew she had different tones for his calls and texts, but that was too much for his male brain to keep straight. So anything from her was heralded by "Bad Reputation".

And he answered. Even when he knew he shouldn't.

No doubt there were rules against answering the phone when you were on a date. Especially when the call was from another girl. And he did feel guilty when he saw Heather's hurt annoyance as he swiped his phone's screen and took Merida's call. (If she had ever seen her best friend bleeding all over a white carpet, a broken bone cutting through the skin on her left leg, maybe she would understand.)

And he had arranged this date for a Wednesday night specifically so it wouldn't interfere with his Friday night calls with Merida. So if she was breaking routine, there was probably something wrong.

"Is something broken?" he asked.

The too familiar hesitation. The ragged exhale. They were practically a fanfare.

His gut clenched.

"Mer?"

"Mum's gonna kill me."

Some people might be surprised just how much that narrowed it down.

He lowered the French fry he had been about to bite into. "You crashed?"

"I hit an ice slick."

He looked outside the diner window, where the temperature didn't even qualify. But he knew Burgess's weather had taken the usual dip in late October.

"Nothing broken?"

"Just the car." There was more emotion in her voice than when she told him about broken bones and concussions.

When he caught sight of Heather across the table, she actually looked concerned. Hopefully she wouldn't decide he was a total jerk.

" _Which_ car?" That was very important.

And her hesitation was all the answer he needed. But just to confirm…

"Dad's."

"He let you drive the truck?"

"Long story. I lost control, now I'm in the ditch on Syringa Road, and it won't start."

Syringa. Way outside of town. She must have gone to Astrid's, since there was nothing else to take her out that far.

"Don't kill me. You're sober, right?"

"I'm gonna kill you."

"Just checking." He knew she wasn't the partying type, but he still had to ask. "I'd come pick you up, but it's a five hour flight." A flight he absolutely would make if he could. But the whole thing would probably be over by the time he got there. "You'll have to call your parents. If you're not hurt, you probably shouldn't call 911."

There was a long pause, which made Eret realize he had forgotten to ask if she had hit her head.

"You need to come home."

His heart sank. It was probably the closest Merida would ever come to admitting that she missed him. And the raw vulnerability in her voice was something he had only ever heard a few times.

"Are you okay?" he asked, more concerned than ever.

"No!" she snapped. "I have to face my mum after totaling the truck! I've never faced my parents without you."

"That's…" Absolutely true, he realized.

Ever since they were children, they'd had a system. When Merida got in trouble, Fergus kept Elinor calm, and Eret was there to do the same for Merida.

His stomach twisted with guilt.

Of all the things he had considered before leaving for college, he hadn't considered this. But now he did, because he couldn't leave her to deal with this alone.

"You call your dad. I'll call your mom. Will that work?"

He knew she wouldn't like it. But he couldn't think of anything else to do.

Finally, she sighed. "Aye."

"Call me back."

"'kay. Eret?"

"Thanks."

Somehow, that didn't make him feel better. Because he felt like he was failing her more than he was actually helping.

"You're welcome."

"Come home."

"Finish high school so you can come out here."

She laughed, even if just a little, before hanging up.

Eret looked across the table at Heather, who already looked resigned. It was probably a jerk move. And he did feel bad.

But not as guilty as he had felt about planning this date in the first place. Ever since Heather had asked him out, he had felt he was breaking some unspoken rule of his and Merida's friendship. He wasn't sure why. The fact this had happened just seemed to confirm that this whole thing had been a mistake.

"Sorry," he said. "I have to take care of this."

Heather nodded, and Eret was already dialing Elinor's number as he left the diner.


	5. Blankets

**Dedicated to Zozabelle on tumblr - one of my most awesome coworkers, an absolutely sweetheart, and now a fellow Mereta shipper.**

 **This, obviously, is set years after the previous drabbles. XD Eret is probably... 26 here, so Merida is 24.**

 _Blankets_

Sleeping with Merida (like pretty much everything with Merida) wasn't exactly easy.

Eret was a light sleeper. But, after a few months of sharing a bed with Merida, he was getting used to her restlessness. He actually slept through the night now, provided she didn't toss and turn more than usual.

The thing was, they had gotten married in the Summer. And now that the weather had turned cold, he was discovering a new challenge. (Always something.)

He woke up (yet again) to the sudden change of temperature as the blankets were pulled off his body. Grunting, he glanced over his shoulder at the red curls – the only thing visible above the dark green comforter she was wrapping herself up in.

"Mer…" he groaned, reaching back to search for the blankets, even as he closed his eyes again.

She muttered something that would have been incomprehensible even if sleep hadn't thickened her accent.

He found the blankets, tugging them back over his body.

But he didn't even let go before Merida stole them back.

"Stop that already!" he reached for them again.

"But I'm cold!"

Eret grunted, still not awake enough to come up with a response as he pulled the blankets over himself once again. Hoping that this time he could get back to sleep. He closed his eyes, ad was just about to drift back to sleep when he felt Merida shift… and realized what she was going to do… half a second before she pressed her ice cold toes against his lowers back.

"Merida!" He sat up as the shocked nerves up and down his spine zinged, and made him shiver.

She started laughing. Not giggling – full on laughter as he glared at her.

Eret reacted with some kind of instincts he hadn't known he had.

Yanking one of the blankets out from the between the sheet and the comforter, he had her wrapped up in it before she could make a move to stop him. (Which was saying something, considering how fast she could be.) He didn't bother to bite back the smirk as he took in his handiwork. One fist gripped the folds of the blanket, holding the prison together.

"Do you ever behave?" he asked. "Ever?"  
He knew the answer, of course. He had known Merida since she was seven years old - and behaving just wasn't an option in her book. Of course he had known that when they got married. And he would even list it as one of the reasons he loved her.

Just not when it cut into his sleep.

Merida's only response was to stick her tongue out and start to wiggle, fighting at the confines of the blanket.

With a scowl, Eret lay down on top of her, settling his weight so he wasn't crushing her, but she wasn't able to move.

"I will sleep like this," he said, looking down at her.

She continued trying to fight, but wasn't getting anywhere fast.

"Get off me, ya—" he tirade descended into what he at first thought was nonsense, or garbled words, but after a moment he realized she was annoyed enough that she had switched to Scottish Gaelic. Probably without even thinking about it.

"I can't understand a word you're saying," he said, quirking an eyebrow as he watched her struggles subside. She turned her glare on him.

Most people would assume that this was the exact opposite of the right moment to kiss her…

But the spark in her blue eyes drew him in, and he threw caution to the wind as he leaned in to capture her lips with his. He half expected her to pull back. But she responded without hesitation.

He just couldn't stay mad at her, unfortunately. Not when the lively fire that made her so darn near impossible was exactly what he had loved from the first time he saw. (Sure, it had taken a while for him to realize it was _love_ , but he had always been drawn back to her fire.)

He let go of the blanket, loosening it until she could scramble free.

Her hands reached up to his face, fingers and palms warm as they pressed to his jaw.

After a moment, he pulled back.

"If I didn't have to wake up early," he groaned. Best to stop now, before he got too excited.

Merida hummed in response. "Did ya have to mess up the bed?"

He rolled his eyes, pulling back the comforter and spreading the blanket back into place, now she was free of it.

Before she could start pulling at the blankets, leaving him without, he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against his side.

For a moment she was still, as if debating if she was okay with this. He half expected her to pull away. Cuddling wasn't really her thing. But she shifted against him, getting comfortable as she lay her head on his shoulder.


	6. Sleeping Dragons

**I found a bunch of half-finished drabbles in my Mereta notebook. ^^'**

 **...this took a very different direction from what I was originally planning. But I like it**.

 **For the record… Jack is the oldest in the group (about 20 here) and is a professional X-game snowboarder. Rapunzel and Eret are both 19. Hiccup and Astrid are 18. Merida is 17.**

 _Sleeping Dragons_

 _Going to Jack's._

Eret looked at the text, reading over it several times as he debated with himself. There was no point panicking, he told himself. Sure, Jack and Merida were a volatile combination. And Merida's worst injuries always seemed to happen when she was at Jack's house.

With the pro snowboarding season over, Jack had gone to visit Burgess before heading back to California, where he had moved while Rapunzel was attending art school. Since she wasn't in the vicinity, Eret had even less faith in Jack's judgment than usual.

So basically… none. If he was honest, he had absolutely no faith in Jack's good judgment.

 _Group thing?_ He typed back, glad a text couldn't convey his wariness. Merida always got annoyed when he got protective. She seemed convinced there was absolutely no reason for him to worry.

 _Hiccup and Astrid are going out, so we're binge watching Daredevil._

…a surprisingly docile activity for those two…

Frowning, Eret thought back to when he had watched _Daredevil_ on Netflix a few months back. Trying to remember if there had been any archery. He hadn't really focused on the show, since he was usually doing something else at the same time. It had been background noise more than entertainment. Plenty of violence. Plenty of stunts. But no archery. He relaxed a little.

 _Have fun._

 _*salutes* will do_

He put his phone down, turning his attention back to his homework. There was no point worrying. She, Jack, Hiccup, and Astrid, had spent the day on the slopes, and none of them had gotten hurt. They were probably tired. And he suspected Jack's injury a few months earlier had been worse than he let them, or the press, know. So maybe they really would just kick back and watch TV.

Yeah. Right. The realistic part of his mind told him there was no way that was true. This was Jack and Merida he was talking about.

But he reminded himself that worrying wouldn't do him any good.

For the first hour, he only check his phone a couple times. And he may have opened facebook to make sure Jack hadn't made a post about some crazy scheme. Just in case.

Halfway through the second hour, his brain started a slow drip of concern. It made it hard to focus on his math work. Which wasn't helpful, since he was even worse at math than he was at English. (If he ever actually needed to do calculus in real life, he would probably just call Hiccup.)

Fifteen minutes later, he was doing a problem for the third time, because he kept getting distracted by worry, and getting the wrong answer.

One hour and forty-five minutes was not a long time. Heck, it was only about two and a half forty-minute episodes.

But there was also a world of trouble that could be gotten into in that amount of time. Especially with the knock Jack and merida had for it.

Eret picked up his phone, planning to sent Merida a text. But he scolded himself for worrying too much and set it aside.

Did most people worry about their best friends this much? Was this normal?

True, most people didn't have Merida for a best friend. They hadn't seen her broken shin bone break through her skin, or tried not to jar her broken collar bone as they carried her, or thrown away three tshirts and pair of jeans because they were stained with her blood. All those things left an impression. And flashed through his mind whenever he tried to convince himself there was nothing worry about.

And, of course, then you threw Jack into the mix. How many bones had she broken, either in his presence, or in his house?

Five. And that was a quick count. If he actually thought about it, he would probably remember a couple more.

What had he done to warrant this kind of stress?

All he had done was befriend the girl who had kicked everyone else's butt at soccer. While the other boys had given her a hard time out of jealousy, and other girls who looked down on her because she didn't mind getting dirty, he had decided that – girl or not – he wanted to be friends with the person who won.

Look what he had gotten for his trouble.

That had been the first broken bones, too. A few weeks before the end of the summer, she had kicked the ball at the wrong angle, breaking two of her toes. She had waved off the coach, a seven year old girl yelling at a grown men to leave her alone. But Eret had ignored her protests, pulling her arm over his shoulders and supporting her as they hobbled over to her father. He hadn't been strong enough to carry her at that point – that had taken a couple more years.

Those two toes were still crooked.

This distance was doing nothing for his nerves.

At the two and a half hour point, with a lot of painful, bloody memories swirling though his head, he gave in.

 _How's Daredevil?_

Nothing.

With each minute that passed, focusing on his homework became harder.

Three hours. Twenty-seven minutes.

Something had to be wrong.

Really wrong, if she hadn't called him. If he had a Pavlov-esque response to reach for his phone every time he heard "Bad Reputation", she had a similar one to call him whenever she was hurt or scared. (Not that she would ever say she was scared. And he valued his life too much to call her out on it. But she hadn't been hurt in the car crash a few months earlier. Just terrified of how to deal with her parents.)

He picked up his phone again, placing the call before he could second guess himself.

" _Hey."_

"Hey, Astrid." He sighed. "Can you do me a favor?"

" _What's up?"_

"Merida's at Jack's, and I haven't heard from her in hours."

" _You want me to check on them?"_

Eret pressed a hand over his eyes. Was he really doing this? Asking Astrid to check on Merida just because he hadn't heard from her for a few hours. If could, quite possibly, be a new low. Especially since he was still trying to convince himself that all this worry was for nothing.

But he had seen too much of her blood not to worry.

"Yes," he said, feeling a little pathetic. "Are you at home?"

Since she lived outside of town, going back in just to check on Merida would be an inconvenience. But she was also the only person he trusted. Hiccup would do it… but would probably say something to make Merida realize that Eret had sent him.

" _No, I'm still at Hiccup's,"_ she said. _"I'm just heading home, so I can stop there on the way."_

Just a couple blocks out of her way, then.

"Thanks, Astrid," he said. "Just… don't let them know."

She snickered. _"I leant Jack some DVDs. I'll pick them up."_

"Thanks," he repeated.

" _I'll call you back."_

"You're not gonna give me a hard time?"

" _Jack and Merida alone for hours? I think it's my civic duty to make sure they haven't caught his house on fire or something."_

He heard Hiccup laugh in the background.

Exactly.

After they hung up, Eret pretended to work. But, in reality, he just stared at the string of letters and symbols that looked more like nonsense than math. Wasn't math supposed to be logical?

It felt like a half hour passed while he waited… but when he checked his phone, it had only been five minutes.

Was this what the rest of his life was going to be like?

No. Merida was coming to college here. Afterwards, well… he guessed he would have to set up his life to make sure he was always close to her.

Yeah.

This was pathetic.

But, hey, he had already figured out that he would probably never be able to have a girlfriend, since Merida would always come first. His experience with Heather had proved that. This was only a tiny step further than that, really, to set up his life around her.

At least until Merida got a boyfriend to look after her.

His fingers tightened around his pencil as something rose up in his chest at that thought. Like a dragon that had been lying dormant, but was violently roused by that thought.

It wasn't the first time.

No. The first time, he had been fifteen, sitting in her family's living room, hanging out under the guise of helping her with her homework. (A ruse her parents probably saw right though, but didn't say anything about.) Elinor had been scolding Merida for not doing the dishes when she was supposed to, and had made a comment about how, when Merida was grown up and married, she would have to keep her house clean.

That was when the dragon had first woken up, lifting its head at the thought of Merida married. He hadn't dwelt on it – it had been a momentary flash – so he hadn't bothered to wonder what it was.

Over the years, it had stirred a few times. When Merida had had a crush, or some guy had looked at her, or he'd thought about Merida getting a boyfriend in abstract terms. The dragon lifted its head, and he got the urge to grab onto her. To punch someone – on principle. As her best friend.

Like that guy Merida had met at soccer camp when she was fourteen. (There was absolutely no proof her brother's had been acting on Eret's request when they were caught snooping through the guy's phone. If anyone asked, he had taken them out for ice cream a few days later just because. It wasn't payment for their services, whatever Astrid thought. The ten dollars Fergus had slipped him had been spent on said ice cream trip. No. Proof.) Even if there was, as her best friend, it was his job to keep jerks away from her.

This was stronger, though. The dragon didn't just lift its head. It reared up, wings spreading until he could feel them straining against his ribs. This brought back that urge to grab onto her. To punch an abstract, imaginary figure in his head. To protect her. To…

No.

No.

 _NO!_

He was not going to admit that it brought out the sudden urge to claim what was his.

Merida was his best friend. She was not _his_. She was not…

The fact he would always choose her over any other girl. The fact he barely paid attention to other girls. Hadn't since… ever. To the point his parents actually worried about him. That didn't mean he…

Loved her.

He loved her.

He would choose her because he loved her.

He hadn't noticed anyone else because all his attention was already on her.

He hated the thought of someone else looking after her – of someone else being with her – because he loved her.

Love wasn't a word he had ever even _used_ before. He wasn't romantically inclined.

He had told his mom he loved her, sure. But that was different. That was required. That was…

That wasn't this.

This was his heart. A thing he had never given any thought to.

Because, without realizing it – with neither of them having a clue – he had given his heart to Merida.

Eret dropped his pen, pressing his face into his hands.

This was bad.

This was—

His phone rang. The ringtone he had selected for his calls from the ones that came in his phone. Merida was the only one who got a personalized ringtone. Because she was the only person whose calls he would never ignore.

Still covering his eyes with one hand – not wanting to look at the thoughts in his own head – he answered without looking at the ID. He was pretty sure who it was.

"Hello?"

" _They're fine,"_ Astrid said. _"Surprisingly. They got bored with_ Daredevil _, so they were outside playing basketball."_

Of course. All that worry for nothing.

"Thanks."

"… _Are you okay?"_

"Fine," he lied. "Just frustrated with calculus."

" _Tell me about it,"_ she said. Unlike him, Astrid was smart enough to be taking calculus in high school. _"I gotta head home, so I'll talk to you later."_

"Yeah, thanks again."

" _No problem."_

No problem.

He hung up, burying his face in his hands again.

No problem. Hardly.

He had a really big problem. Being in love with Merida was the exact opposite of "no problem".

Because someday she would grow out of her "I don't want to fall in love and get married" thing. She might deny it, but Eret knew her too well. Someday she was going to find someone she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. It wouldn't look like Jack and Rapunzel's sugar coated fairytale. It would probably be a lot messier than Hiccup and Astrid's relationship. Since that was all she had seen, she probably didn't realize there were other ways to fall in love. But she would find someone.

And he… he would have to ignore the dragon. Ignore the urge to grab onto her. The urge to throttle anyone who looked at her, let alone touched her.

Yeah. This was the exact opposite of "no problem".

This was a complete disaster.


	7. Sunday Morning

**In the throes of Mereta feels (after Riana-One on tumblr wrote me an AMAZING Mereta fic), I asked for prompts so I could write my own fluff fic. This is the result!**

Sunday was the one day Eret didn't get up early. Every other day, he was up almost an hour and a half before Merida to hit the gym. But on Sunday, he was free to sleep in. And to be there where Merida woke up, rather than have her come downstairs while he made breakfast after getting back. So when he woke up to the alarm on Merida's phone, he was more than a little confused.

Merida groaned as she rolled off his chest, right arm flailing in the general direction of the nightstand, trying to turn off the obnoxious chirping from her phone. It took Eret a moment to register that she was muttering in Scottish Gaelic as she rolled further across the bed. (Complaining about waking up, no doubt.)

Tried to, anyway.

Eret snaked one arm around her waist, pulling her back to him. Satisfaction unfurled deep in his chest when her warmth was once more pressed against his side; a contrast to the air beyond the blankets. Even as his other arm reached over to her phone and shut off the alarm.

Unlike Merida, who hated waking up any time before 10 a.m., he was a light sleeper, and he was already… _almost_ fully concious.

"Eret…" Merida groaned. She wiggled in his arms… but obviously wasn't trying too hard, since he wasn't holding her very tight, but she didn't get away.

"Since when do you wake up before me?" he asked. Especially on Sunday. The one time they got to spend mornings together.

"Since I'm meetin' my dad for breakfast," she said, trying again to slip out of his hold.

He blinked, trying to remember if she had mentioned having breakfast with Fergus. Trying to remember if she had even mentioned that Fergus was going to be in town.

"He sent me a text last night, sayin' he has a layover here for a few hours." She was still trying, halfheartedly, to get out of his hold. "You are not makin' this easy."

He snickered, shifting his body so he could easily duck his head down to kiss her. She had been tense in his arms, trying to get away… but as soon as their lips met, she started to relax. Her arms went front trying to brace on the mattress to get away from him, to wrapped around him. Warm, and blissfully comfortable. Eret's definition of Sunday morning.

He pulled her closer, the lazy kiss becoming a little more focused.

Until she groaned, and tried to pull away. "Stop it."

"Why?" he asked, trying not to smirk as he saw her reluctance.

"'Cause I don't wanna get up."

"So don't."

"I'm gonna be late."

Eret had every respect for his father-in-law. He also had a healthy _fear_ of his father-in-law. So, as much as he wanted to keep Merida in bed for a little while longer… he sighed, and rolled away from her.

Merida slid out from under the blankets, hissing as she was hit by the air of the bedroom - cold after the warmth of the bed.

"Mornings are evil."

Eret snickered as he rolled onto his stomach, burying his face in Merida's pillow as she clicked on the light. But he turned his head enough to watch her as she shed a tshirt he was pretty sure had been his in high school, before it had gone missing. To be found again when they had moved her things into his apartment after they got married.

"Stop watchin'," she said, stepping into a pair of ripped jeans.

"Why?" Nothing he hadn't seen before.

She pulled on a dark green tshirt (one of hers, so fitted to her slim torso), tugging the hem down around her hips as she came over and jumped onto the bed on her knees, jostling him.

"You are five years old," he muttered.

Instead of responding, she leaned down to kiss him briefly. "'Cause I don't wanna go."

She jumped back to the floor. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"That a promise?"

She smirked as she left the room, closing the door behind her.


	8. With This Ring

**Happy birthday to Dearhoneylemon on tumblr! I am days late, for which I am very, very sorry. ^^' She asked for fluff… and another friend talked me into writing a proposal fic.**

 **At this point, Merida is 23, just about to finish college (something happened and she had to extend her classes for 5 years, rather than 4), Eret is 25. So they've been together almost 3 years. …technically. But Eret will explain.**

 **I hope you enjoy, Ellie!**

 _Unexpected_

It wasn't that Eret had never thought about marriage. He had thought about it a lot. Specifically, he had thought about a marriage to Merida. Getting _his_ head around it wasn't the problem.

The problem was Merida's head.

His mother was not exactly good at subtlety. Which was why, instead of just casually asking during a phone call if he had thought about commitment. No small hints. Her most recent birthday, she hadn't even started dropping hints about wanting grandchildren.

No. Instead, Ada Eretson just sent her son his grandmother's wedding ring. His paternal grandmother – which meant she had actually gotten it from his father. (His father's side had a long, proud history, and three times the family heirlooms as there were on his mother's side.) Considering his father wasn't eaxctly Merida's biggest fan, that said… a lot.

His jaw worked as he looked at the ring. An oval shaped ruby, and two smaller diamonds, set in gold. "Gaudy" Merida had called it, when she was twelve, and had seen it for the first time. (That might actually be part of why his father didn't like her…)

Actually, she had sent it to him a few months ago. And now every phone call inevitably included Ada asking where the ring was. After the first few times, saying that it was in his closet, he had started moving it just so he could give her a different answer. Though he could tell she was getting exasperated with that. And he was running out of places to hide where Merida wouldn't find it.

Actually, there had been a near miss just a few days ago. Though he still wasn't even sure what she had been doing in the drawer of his nightstand. Besides the fact she seemed to have absolutely no concept of privacy when it came to his stuff.

Eret rubbed his face with the hand that wasn't holding the ring.

Merida was the one who had asked him out, true. But he had waited almost three years, in what he thought was the vain hope she might have the same realization that he had. That their friendship was a lot more.

From there it had taken months for here to concede that, yes, they were, officially, a couple. Weeks for her to actually get comfortable with calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend.

Another two months before she became okay with a regular date night.

When he accidentally said he loved her, she hadn't talked to him for two weeks. Two very long, painful, stressful week. And even once they made up, it had been at least six months before she said the words. Even now, he said them very, _very_ rarely.

It had been a little over two years since their first "date".

For most couples, that would be reasonable to start considering a proposal… right?

Since the ring had arrive, he has casually brought up marriage exactly… once.

The first time, she had actually hung around for thirty-seven minutes. Thirty-seven awkward minutes. But still impressive, considering how obviously shocked she had been. And it had actually given him a spark of hope, that, at point in the near future, she might be open to the idea.

Even more so when she had brought it up again a couple weeks later. She hadn't said anything to make him start making plans. Mostly just hypothetical things. "If we _did_ get married…" with a heavy emphasis on "if". But Eret figured it was a good sign that she was thinking about it, and still talking to him. Still let him hold her hand. Still curled against him when they were sitting on his couch.

But did that mean, if he pulled out the ring, and took it beyond hypothetical…

Just thinking about it, he doubted the conversation could end any way other than her walking right out of the apartment.

How long would she go without talking to him this time? Right now her record was six weeks. Four of which she had been in Europe with her parents, so he wasn't entirely sure how long that silence would have lasted if not for that trip. She had mentioned her father had helped her work through her fear of commitment on that trip.

A month after the ring had arrived (and after a few of those hypothetical comments), when he had asked Fergus's permission, the man had been enthusiastic. If the bone crushing hug had been any indication. But also cautioned him to tread carefully. They had agreed not to mention it to Elinor, since it was too likely she would let something slip in her enthusiasm at the prospect of marrying off her daughter. (She had not exactly been helpful when it came to Merida's commitment issues when they had first started dating.)

He heard the handle of his door turn, and scrambled to get the ring into the back pocket of his jeans.

Why couldn't she ever knock? She would kill him if he barged into her apartment, but had no qualms about walking into his. Normally he didn't mind, since it was a habit that predated their relationship. Just not when he had incriminating evidence in his hand.

"I brought food," Merida said, holding up the bag of takeout as she kicked off her shoes.

"Class that bad?" he asked, recognizing the logo of her favorite Mexican restaurant on the front of the plastic bag. The food was good, but it was too expensive for every day eating.

"My European Lit professor failed my essay."

"The one you wrote at two am the night before?" he asked, as she came around the couch. Trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice, since he knew she wouldn't appreciate it. (He had tried to suggest that wasn't the best homework method back in high school… but this was Merida.)

"That one," she said, collapsing on the other end. She untied the handles of the bag, pulling out the to-go containers. One of which she held out to him. "She says I have to rewrite it. I still don't think there was anything wrong with it. Isn't literature supposed to be objective?"

"So they say." Literature hadn't exactly been his best subject either. Though he had done a little better than Merida.

He accepted the box she handed him.

"Now I have to…" she trailed off as she checked inside the bag. "I forgot silverware."

"I'll get it."

She seemed to melt into the couch. "Thanks."

Eret nodded, going into the kitchen to get silverware from the dish strainer. He heard Merida move on the couch, but that wasn't unusual enough to make him look back.

"Why do you have your grandmother's ring?"

Eret's hand flew from the dish strainer, to his back pocket…

Only to find it empty.

He looked over at the couch to see Merida holding up the ring.

When he had gone to put the ring in his pocket, he had been in such a hurry, he must have missed.

He opened his mouth to answer. Only for nothing to come out. His brain raced, trying to find an answer to that question. But he continued to draw a blank.

Merida quirked an eyebrow. "Ya look like you've seen a ghost."

What he was seeing in his mind was Merida leaving his apartment and not talking to him for two weeks or more.

Since his brain wasn't producing anything clever (since when did it ever?), he decided that honesty was the best policy.

"My mom sent it to me," he said, finally pulling the silverware from the dish strainer. Trying to act casual as he came back to the couch and sat down.

Merida was looking at the ring from different angles, considering it. But she glanced up at him. "Why?"

How to answer that?

"To give me a hint, probably."

Ada had never outright _said_ why she sent it to him. Just never let him forget that it was his position.

"Hmm."

He stared in something close to horror as Merida slipped it onto her left hand. In a surprisingly typical move, she held her arm out and looked at the ring.

"It's too big," she pointed out, as she used her middle finger to twist the ring around.

"It can be resized," he said, without thinking. And immediately wished he hadn't. Though she had brought it up.

She was wearing it, for heaven's sake.

Again, she hummed thoughtfully.

"It's still kind of gaudy."

Finally, something that sounded like his Merida. Eret snickered as he opened his box of food. Steam carried the delicious smell to him, but only did so much to distract him when something to monumental was on the table.

"Considering our mums barely get along, they've got a lot in common," she said. Still not taking her eyes off the ring as she centered the jewel back on top of her finger.

"What do you mean?"

"Mum's been hinting that she wants us to get married soon."

"You're surprisingly calm about this."

She finally looked over at him. "You've been hinting for months."

"No I haven't."

She tilted her head, arching her brow again. "Aye, ya have."

"No, I—"

"Ya have," she said, with finality.

"Okay, I have."

"Uh-huh."

"You do remember what happened the first time I said I loved you?" he reminded.

She just hummed again. In her usual "yes, I remember, but that doesn't mean we have to talk about it" way.

He saw her reach to take it off, but her hand stopped as she considered it. Her expression wasn't quite thoughtful. But it wasn't what he had expected. There was no dread or revulsion. No distaste. Even if she did find it gaudy, there was no sign of that as she continued to look at it. Instead, he suspected she was considering exactly what it meant to wear it.

"Let's not tell 'em 'til ya get it resized," she said finally, sliding it off and holding it out to him.

All he could do was nod as she dropped it in his palm.

"We should probably stage an actual proposal. Between our mums and Rapunzel, they'll never be happy with this."

Eret looked at the red and gold ring that now rested in his palm. Then back at Merida, who was reaching for her food, and the fork he had brought her, so casually he wasn't entirely sure the last few minutes had just happened.

"Did we just get engaged?"

"I guess." Merida shrugged as she dug her fork into her food.

Again, he had to stare at the ring for a moment. Then back at her. "Are you sure?"

Head tilted, brow arched again.

"I wasn't expecting you to agree."

"You didn't exactly ask." Another bite. "Unless that was your idea of a proposal."

"No!" He still had no idea how he would have actually asked her. Though this was going much better than he had expected, so maybe it was for the best. "You've been opposed to marriage since we were kids. What—"

"Eret."

"What?"

"I just agreed to marry you. Don't ruin the moment."

She probably had a point.

"We don't have to—"

Before he could finish that sentence, he forgot what he was going to say. Back Merida pressed her hands on both sides of his face, pulling him down to kiss her.

And it finally hit that Merida had agreed to marry him.

When she pulled back, he realized he couldn't stop grinning.

"You know as soon as we tell people, they'll take over, right?" she said.

Between Ara, Elinor, and Rapunzel… he knew exactly what he meant.

So he decided not to think about it for now. And instead, leaned in to kiss her again.


	9. Fearless

**A/N: I don't even know how to explain this. Originally it was just a headcanon I shared with a friend. Then I couldn't sleep last night, so I figured… why not. (On a side note, though: Eret's mother is a midwife. Hence why she has an office at home. I couldn't figure out how to bring that up in the story.)**

 **Merida is 15, Eret is 17. Freshman and junior year respectively.**

The first truly gorgeous day, as spring turned to summer, fell on a Sunday. The heavy, grey clouds, which had been all but constant for the past three or four months, retreated. Leaving only a few wisps of white across a bright blue sky.

The whole world was waking up after its winter sleep.

In a perfect world, Eret would have been outside. But he was in high school. And nothing about being in high school was a perfect world. Now that he finally had a car, a whole new world of hiking trails was open to him and Merida. And they had been pouring over maps, making a list of which ones they wanted to try when the weather was warm enough.

Well, the weather was warm enough. But instead he was sitting at his desk, one hand tangled in his own hair as he tried to make sense of algebra.

Even as, through the window, he could hear birds singing, and the breeze seemed to call to him. Asking why he was inside.

Behind him, Merida lay on her stomach on his bed, dealing with her own homework. Trying to write a book report on _To Kill A Mocking Bird_. Though he could hear more restless fidgeting than the actual sound of her pencil on the page of her notebook. And it seemed like she was crossing out more than she was actually writing.

They had watched the movie the night before, which seemed to help her understand the story a bit better. Just as it had helped Eret two years earlier. But that didn't seem to make writing the report any easier.

He had, so far, resisted her pleas to at least look at his report from when he had done the same assignment. But, if hers was too similar, he suspected the teacher would catch it, and accuse her of copying.

"You seriously think she'd remember your report after two years?" Merida had asked.

"This is Ms. Meyers we're talking about."

Her upper lip had curled in distaste. "Good point."

This was the same teacher who had just about thrown a fit when she found out that, because they had the same classroom at different periods, they had been sitting at the same desk, and sticking notes to the bottom of it. They were no longer allowed to do so.

So, for now, she was on her own.

But at least they were suffering their confinement together. Hoping they would be done in time to maybe enjoy the sunlight… but knowing they probably wouldn't. If not, they could at least try to make it to a movie later as a consolation prize.

Eret heard the blankets on the bed rustle, and glanced back over his shoulder. Merida was crawling over to his iPod, which was hooked up to the stereo next to the bed. Picking up the device, she started flipping through the different pages. Only now did he realize that the music they had put on earlier had ended, though he didn't remember when.

Her hair was finally starting to recover from her attempts to cut it short back in the fall. The wild curls were once more past her shoulders, and no longer puffed out around her face. It had been weeks since he had seen her with a baseball cap, or since she had come over an hour before school so his mother could straighten it. (He had never gotten used to the sight of her with straight hair, and – though he valued his life too much to _ever_ say it out loud – it hadn't exactly been a flattering look. He was glad that season of their life was over.)

He turned his attention back to the numbers and letters on the page of his text book. Wishing yet again that he was outside.

Then, the quiet was broken by music coming through the speakers… and Eret froze as the familiar opening notes of _Jump Then Fall_ filled his room.

"Taylor Swift?" Merida asked. "Seriously?"

Eret was up, out of his chair, and lunging for the device, before Taylor Swift's voice could start singing about the best sound she's ever heart. It should have been easy, since the bed was only a couple feet behind him.

But Merida reacted in a split second. Unplugging the iPod – ending the music – and jumping off the bed. Cackling the whole time.

"It's the deluxe edition, too."

"Just give it back," Eret said, trying to reach her across the bed.

"Taylor Swift, Eret," Merida repeated. "' _It's a love story, baby just say yes,_ '" she sang, mockingly. Which just sounded off, her thick Scottish accent trying to imitate the country twang.

"Shut up." He tried to reach for the iPod again, but she stepped back.

"I'm hurt, actually," she said, though her smirk was in pure defiance of the words. "How can I trust my best friend—"

"Just give me—"

Giving up on attempts to reach for her, he came around the bed. Towards where she had backed herself against the closet door. Still cackling.

When she saw him coming she side stepped, turned, and fled through the open door of his room.

Stupid rule. The one thing all four parents had ever agreed on, since he and Merida had first become friends, was that the doors of their rooms always had to be open when they were together. A rule they hadn't understand until a few years ago, still balked that their parents actually thought they were going to do anything more than talk behind a closed door.

If it had been closed now, he could have caught her in the time it would have taken her to open.

Instead, she was already at the top of the stairs by the time he made it into the hallway.

"Merida!"

She just laughed as she ran. Red curls bouncing against her back, her bare feet a blur as she descended the stairs.

Eret sighed in exasperation as he ran after her. By the time he was halfway down the stairs, she was out of sight. By the time he hit the ground floor, there was no sign of her. No red curls just vanishing from sight, and no echo of her laughter.

Eret stopped, taking a moment to catch his breath as he looked around. There were too many places to hide downstairs, which was exactly why she had chosen this route. She knew all of them. They had played countless games of hide-and-seek when they were younger, and now she knew his house as well as she knew her own. Just he knew hers.

But he had a knack for finding her. Strange as it sounded, he had developed a kind of instinct for sensing where she was. Rapunzel was convinced they had developed an empathic link over the years, so maybe that was it.

To his right, under the stairs, was the door to a storage closet. Somewhere she had hidden plenty of times when they were kids. But he passed that, going through to the living room. Heading for his mother's office.

He did check behind the arm chair in the living room. But there was nothing besides a couple dust bunnies.

In his pocket, his phone chimed. He pulled it out, expecting some kind of taunt, or a ransom note. _"If you want your iPod back, I demand…"_ whatever Merida decided his dignity was worth this time.

Oh, no. Merida had decided this was too good, and had passed right through bargaining. Instead of demanding 20 bags of Sour Patch Kids, or some other thing she wanted that her parents wouldn't buy her, she had gone straight for the heart.

The message was a facebook alert.

 _Merida DunBroch tagged you in a photo!_

The exclamation point was so cheery, as was the message itself, it tasted like bile in his throat. Even though he knew what he would find, he opened the link just to see the damage.

It was a photo of his iPod screen, with the album cover of Fearless front and center.

 _Look what I found on Eret's iPod! Deluxe edition!_

He typed out a furious _Give it back!_

But no sooner did the comment load than he saw that the damage was already done.

 _Jack Frost: I KNEW IT!_

Eret groaned. If Jack knew, there was no way of deleting the post, and trying to act like it never happened.

Shoving his phone back into his pocket, he resumed searching for his traitor of a best friend.

His phone chimed again. With a scowl, he opened the _Astrid Hofferson commented on Merida DunBroch's photo post_ message.

It was a gorgeous spring day! Why was everyone on facebook, and not outside living? People were right: teenagers were too addicted to social media.

 _Astrid Hofferson: Who knew Eret had such a soft side! (Besides, oh, EVERYONE!)_

The post already had seven likes. And Merida had already liked both Jack and Astrid's comments.

Make that eight likes. His mother was the latest.

Eret dragged a hand down his face.

His phone pinged again, another comment coming in. But, beneath it, not quite in perfect synch, he heard another chime. Turning down the volume on his own phone, he listened. Standing still. Waiting.

 _Ding!_

He lunged for the door of his mother's office. Yanking it open.

Before Merida could do more than step away from the wall she had been leaning against, he swooped in. Getting one arm around her waist, he hauled her out of the room. While, with his other hand, he grabbed her phone from her hands.

Merida let out a yelp of surprise, and an "oof" as he threw her over his shoulder, but it turned into a peel of laughter. One that only grew stronger, so she couldn't say anything in protest.

Carrying her back to the living room, Eret dumped her unceremoniously on the couch. She just curled up as she continued to laugh.

Looking at her phone and the _it's not like he's ever…_ reply she had been typing to Astrid, it seemed his timing had been perfect.

He held a hand out.

"IPod."

Still laughing, she pulled the device from her pocket, and smacked it down in his palm.

"All the secrets I've kept for you, and this is how you repay me?"

At least a solid minute passed before Merida finally managed to control her laughter enough to catch her breath. She lay back on the couch.

"You listen to Taylor Swift," she said, and immediately burst out laughing. "You act so tough, but you listen to…" she descended into laughter again, and couldn't finish the sentence.

"You listen to Celtic Woman," he reminded. Though that felt like a pretty weak accusation – especially compared to Taylor Swift. And she made no secret that she listened to them. Not to him, at least. While he had never mentioned this to her.

" _'Can't you see that I'm the one who understands you/Been here all along so why can't you seeeeeeee/You belong with meeeeeeee!'_ " She sang. Once more mocking. It was almost impressive that she managed to sing that much around her laughter. Especially since she still managed to convey a sense of excessive mellow drama.

"You know the words!"

"Everyone know it!"

That was true.

He was losing this fight.

Her phone chimed yet again, and he sighed as he sat down next to her on the couch.

 _Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III: O.o I did not see that coming._

He tossed the phone onto the arm chair. Merida took several gasping breaths, trying to get herself under control… Only to descend into laughter yet again. Head braced on one hand, he watched her. What else was he supposed to do?

Finally – _finally_ – she started to calm down. Laughter giving way to giggles, to small snickers. He didn't dare ask if she was done, knowing that would just send her back into fits of laughter. She took a deep breath. Then another.

"Can we get back to our homework now?"

For a moment she looked up at the ceiling, as if thinking about the question.

"I'm hungry," she said suddenly, rolling off the couch, and onto her feet.

It was so typically Merida. All Eret could do was shake his head as he stood up, and follow her into the kitchen.


End file.
